# Mt. Shenchang

**Song Xu** (Chinese, 1525-c. 1606)  
c. 1588  
Album leaf; ink and color on silk  
Sheet: 26.4 x 28.4 cm (10 3/8 x 11 3/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.78.10. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1998.78.10).

## About this work

By the 1500s, visits to historic and scenic sites in the lower Yangzi delta stimulated an increase of printed illustrated travel books. Topographical depictions of local scenery flourished. Leaves from this album illustrates sites around Lake Tai of the two adjacent counties Changxing and Wuxing (modern Huzhou). Song Xu, who lived intermittently in Jiaxing and Songjiang, must have passed through Wuxing by boat and thus knew the region. The paintings are inscribed with gazetteerlike notations, suggesting that the album was produced for clients as commemorative works, a travel guide, or for “armchair travel” ( woyou ) in one’s mind.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Song Xu painted this in about 1588, aged about 58. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Album leaf.** A page from an album, meant to be held and looked at closely, one opening at a time.
- **Ink and colour on silk.** Silk was sized with glue and alum so it would hold a crisp brushline, and mineral colours were built up in thin layers. The sheen of the weave still shows through.

### [Song Xu](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/song-xu)

Chinese, 1525-c. 1606

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: China, Jiaxing, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- The artist was about 58
- Real size: about 10 × 11 in (26 × 28 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 16th century
- Movement: [Chinese painting](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/chinese-painting)
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/759.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/759/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/mt-shenchang-cma-160725).